NAB Super Session - Predictions from the Street: The Power Players behind the Great Content Shift

By Daniel Restuccio

Marty Shindler (pictured below) is a man on a mission. He wants people to remember that "show business" is at least 50 percent business. This is why the former head of finance at Industrial Light & Magic and long time industry management consultant organized and is moderating the NAB panel Predictions from the Street: The Power Players behind the Great Content Shift. Things have changed radically says Shindler. Many years ago if you were going to make a movie or a TV show, you did it on film; now you do it with digital cameras. Today, producers can make content and put it up on YouTube. "A few years ago you watched content on your television and now you're watching Netflix and Hulu streaming."

Participating on the panel are Doug Creutz analyst at Cowen & Company, who identified profitability trends on "The Hunger Games, Lions Gate and Disney's "John Carter"; David Enzer, managing director of Roth Capital Partners, who is responsible for technology financings and M&A in the media, software, communications and convergence sectors. He has completed over $2B in transactions over his career; James Marsh analyst at Piper Jaffray who recently commented on the new Video on Demand service that would make first run movies available for homes 60 days after their theatrical release; and Michael Pachter, Wedbush Securities, who has a four-star analyst rating on Yahoo Finance and is a specialist in gaming industry analysis.

"These are knowledgeable people," continues Shindler. "Analysts are the ones that monitor these things and look at the metrics of what's going on in the industry. They study how one company affects another company all along the pipeline and at the end of every research report they write they have to declare that they are independent: that they don't own Apple or Digital Domain or Comcast stock."

"The content creation business is a risky business. Somewhere between 65 and 70% of the studio movies that are made lose money. Look what happened to John Carter. Disney wrote down over 200 million dollars on that movie. "If that was an independent," says Shindler, "they would have gone out of business."

Perhaps Shindler's session description says it all: New paradigms in consumption are forever changing the way we create, manage, deliver and monetize content. These changes are forcing media and entertainment companies to closely examine and evolve their long standing strategies and business models, often moving into uncharted territories to reach the moving target customer. Newcomers are also entering the game, but their approach to the content creation, distribution, and delivery game is entirely new, innovative and potentially disruptive.

The panel, Predictions from the Street: The Power Players behind the Great Content Shift, is one of the Super Sessions. It will be held on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at 2:15 PM in Room S222.